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Ensuring Safe Food: From Production to
Consumption
Committee to Ensure Safe Food from Production to
Consumption, Institute of Medicine and National
Research Council
ISBN: 0-309-59340-9, 206 pages, 6 x 9, (1998)
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Ensuring Safe Food: From Production to Consumption
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i
Ensuring Safe Food
From Production to
Consumption
Committee to Ensure Safe Food from Production to Consumption
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C. 1998
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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ii
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20418
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the
National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy
of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of
the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard
for appropriate balance.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distin-
guished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of
science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter
granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the fed-
eral government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce Alberts is president of the National
Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the
National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous
in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sci-
ences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering
also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and
research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president
of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to
enlist distinguished members of the appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters
pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy's 1863 con-
gressional charter responsibility to be an adviser to the federal government and its own initiative in
identifying issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the
Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to
link the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering
knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies
determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the
National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to
the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is adminis-
tered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce Alberts and Dr. William A.
Wulf are chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricul-
tural Research Service, under Agreement No. 59-0790-8-013. Any opinions, findings, conclusions,
or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 98-86932
International Standard Book No: 0-309-06559-3
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©1998 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
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iii
COMMITTEE TO ENSURE SAFE FOOD FROM
PRODUCTION TO CONSUMPTION
JOHN C. BAILAR III* (Chair), Department of Health Studies, The University
of Chicago, Illinois
CAROLE A. BISOGNI, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York
DAVID L. CALL, Retired, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York
MARSHA N. COHEN, Hastings College of the Law, University of California,
San Francisco
MICHAEL P. DOYLE, Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement,
University of Georgia, Griffin
DELIA A. HAMMOCK, Good Housekeeping Institute, New York
LONNIE J. KING, College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State
University, East Lansing
GILBERT A. LEVEILLE, Leveille Associates, Denville, New Jersey
*
RICHARD A. MERRILL, University of Virginia School of Law,
Charlottesville, Virginia
SANFORD A. MILLER, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University
of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio
†
HARLEY W. MOON, Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Iowa State
University, Ames
MICHAEL T. OSTERHOLM, Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis
THOMAS D. TRAUTMAN, General Mills, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Staff
ALLISON A. YATES, Study Director
CHARLOTTE KIRK BAER, Senior Program Officer
SANDRA A. SCHLICKER, Senior Program Officer
ELISABETH REESE, Research Associate
KATHERINE J. GORTON, Policy Intern
GAIL E. SPEARS, Administrative Assistant
SHIRLEY B. THATCHER, Administrative Assistant
GERALDINE KENNEDO, Project Assistant
MELINDA SIMONS, Project Assistant
* Member, Institute of Medicine.
†
Member, National Academy of Sciences.
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iv
FOOD SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMISSION
† *
DONALD KENNEDY (Chair), Institute for International Studies, Stanford
University, California
†
DALE E. BAUMAN, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
FERGUS M. CLYDESDALE, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
JOHANNA T. DWYER, Tufts Medical School and School of Nutrition
Science and Policy, New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
JOHN W. ERDMAN, Jr., College of Agriculture, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
CUTBERTO GARZA, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
GEORGE R. HALLBERG, The Cadmus Group, Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts
†
JOHN W. SUTTIE, University of Wisconsin-Madison
*
BAILUS WALKER, Jr., Howard University Cancer Center, Washington, DC
Staff
PAUL GILMAN, Executive Director,Board on Agriculture
KAREN HEIN, Executive Officer, Institute of Medicine
MICHAEL J. PHILLIPS, Director, Board on Agriculture
ALLISON A. YATES, Director, Food and Nutrition Board
* Member, Institute of Medicine.
† Member, National Academy of Sciences.
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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PREFACE v
Preface
Protecting the food supply from harmful agents and thus promoting the
public health is an important activity of government. The current system for
food safety in the United States is a complex and multi-layered activity that
depends on multiple players that include the federal government, state
governments, local governments, universities, the news media, and, of course,
the public itself, both as preparers and handlers of food and as consumers.
These varied roles which each segment plays in food safety, with their many
complexities and charges, must be integrated within the equally complex and
changing system of the food supply from production to final consumption.
Though the federal roles of guidance, research, surveillance, enforcement, and
education are extremely important, they represent only one part of the food
safety system.
Given the size and complexity of this multi-faceted system, it is not
unexpected that new information and new concerns often emerge. Many are due
to advances in science or to changes in food production and consumption
patterns. The system itself must then change if it is to maintain effective
vigilance over the safety of the food supply. Congress has acted to strengthen
the federal role as the primary agent for integration of activities related to food
safety. Many components of the federal food safety system determined by
Congress have been relatively unchanged over the last few decades, and
concerns have come forward that major changes may be required.
At the request of Congress, and in light of the emerging food safety
concerns and many recent proposals recommending change, the Agricultural
Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture asked the
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in late 1997 to 1) determine the scientific
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PREFACE vi
basis of an effective food safety system, 2) assess the effectiveness of the
current food safety system in the United States, 3) identify scientific needs and
gaps within the current system, and 4) provide recommendations on scientific
and organizational changes in federal food safety activity needed to ensure an
effective science-based food safety system.
The Committee to Ensure Safe Food from Production to Consumption was
formed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council
(NRC) to do the evaluation in response to this request. The committee reviewed
mechanisms now in place at the federal level to ensure safe food, assessed the
extent to which they are effective in addressing food safety issues from
production to consumption, and developed recommendations about changes
needed to move toward a more effective food safety system. This volume
reports the deliberations, conclusions, and recommendations of the committee.
The IOM and the NRC also formed an oversight commission composed of
members from the Food and Nutrition Board, the Board on Agriculture, and the
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology of the Commission on Life
Sciences. The chair, Donald Kennedy, is a member of both IOM and of NAS.
The role of the Commission was to nominate a committee whose expertise
would be appropriately balanced for a study of this scope and complexity. The
multidisciplinary group included experts in public health, epidemiology, food
science, food microbiology, production agriculture, veterinary medicine, food
technology, food regulatory law, consumer protection, consumer education, and
media communications. In addition, five members of the 13 member committee
held previous positions in federal agencies involved in food safety, three were
from the food industry, and two from the agriculture/aquaculture industry. And,
of course, all committee members are frequent consumers of food (see
Appendix G for biographical sketches of each committee member).
The committee held three meetings during its short period of deliberations.
The first meeting, held March 23 to 25, 1998, included an open meeting to hear
from the federal agencies most involved with food safety and from Dr. Ed
Knipling, Associate Administrator of ARS/USDA who served as the project
officer for the study. Representatives from each agency were asked to discuss
the mission of their agency and its involvement in regulatory efforts, and to
provide the agency budget for key activities related to food safety (see
Appendix E).
The second meeting, held April 28 to May 1, 1998, was held in
conjunction with an open meeting to which individuals representing many of
the major organizations with interests related to food safety presented their
responses to three questions:
1) What works well in the current US food safety system?
2) What changes would lead to a more effective food safety system?
3) What types of changes would be detrimental to an effective food
safety system?
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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PREFACE vii
A summary of the major points made by invited participants during the
second workshop appears as Appendix D in the report.
The final meeting of the committee, held June 12-14, 1998, did not include
an open portion. At this meeting, the committee finished its major deliberations
related to the report and finalized its recommendations.
The Executive Summary presents the committee's principal findings and
recommendations from its review of the four areas it was charged to consider.
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the issues and concerns related to food
safety, including a brief history of food safety legislation since the early 1900's.
Chapter 2 describes the current food safety system, with special attention to the
federal role. Public health hazards resulting from the changing nature of
pathogens and other toxicants are discussed in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 presents the
committee's judgment regarding the attributes of a model food safety system.
Chapter 5 compares the current federal system with the model system and
identifies gaps. Chapter 6 includes the major conclusions and recommendations
of the committee regarding changes needed in approaches and organizational
structure to move toward a more effective food safety system. The appendices
include reports and information related to the overall issues: Appendix A
includes organizational charts, which identify the various components of the
federal governments with functions related to food safety; Appendix B includes
a recently released report from the Congressional Research Service outlining
past recommendations for organizational change in food safety at the federal
level; Appendix C includes the executive summary from Food Safety from
Farm to Table: A National Food-Safety Initiative; Appendix D is a summary of
points presented to the committee at their open meeting in April by
representatives of various groups with interests in food safety, Appendix E
includes information provided by federal agencies on levels of funding
attributed to the major components of food safety for the years 1995-98, and
Appendix F acknowledges the many individuals who assisted the committee by
providing comments and materials in the information-gathering phase of the
study.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their
diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures
approved by the NRC Report Review Committee. The purpose of this
independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist
the IOM and the NRC in making the published report as sound as possible and
to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence,
and responsiveness to the study charge. The content of the final report is the
responsibility of the IOM, NRC, and the study committee, and not the
responsibility of the reviewers. The review comments and draft manuscript
remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. The
Committee to Ensure Safe Food From Production to Consumption thanks the
following individuals, who are neither officials nor employees of the IOM or
the NRC, for their participation in the review of this report: Francis F. Busta,
University of Minnesota; Lester Crawford, Georgetown University; Bernard D.
Goldstein, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; Ray Hankes,
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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PREFACE viii
Preferred Stock Genetic, Inc.; Carol Tucker Foreman, Foreman, Heiderpriem
and Mager, Inc.; Cynthia M. Harris, Florida A&M University; Donald Hornig,
Harvard University; Malden Nesheim, Cornell University; Stuart E.
Richardson, California Department of Health Services; Mark Silbergeld,
Consumers Union; and Bruce Stillings, Food & Agriculture Consultants. While
the individuals listed above have provided many constructive comments and
suggestions, it must be emphasized that responsibility for the final content of
this report rests entirely with the authoring committee, the IOM, and the NRC.
On behalf of the committee, it is a pleasure to thank Allison Yates, study
director, senior staff officers Charlotte Kirk Baer and Sandra Schlicker, research
associate Elisabeth Reese, IOM policy intern Kate Gorton, and project
assistants Geraldine Kennedo and Melinda Simons. Their efforts were essential
to the timely conclusion of our mission. Additionally, the committee thanks
Michael Phillips for his assistance as director of the Board on Agriculture and
Shirley Thatcher, his administrative assistant, and Norman Grossblatt of the
Commission on Life Sciences for his valued editorial assistance early in the
development of the report. We thank Michael A. Edington from the IOM
Reports and Information Office for assistance in the production of the report
and Claudia Carl, who managed the report review process. We also thank all
who provided comments to the committee during the course of its deliberations.
It is a pleasure also to record my personal thanks to the committee itself,
which accomplished a prodigious amount of high-quality analysis and
interpretation in a very short time.
JOHN C. BAILAR III,
CHAIR,
COMMITTEE TO ENSURE SAFE FOOD FROM PRODUCTION TO
CONSUMPTION
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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CONTENTS ix
Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 17
Changes in the US Food System and Their Effects on Food 18
Safety
Scope of the Food Safety Problem 20
History of US Food Safety Regulation 21
The Committee and Its Charge 23
2 THE CURRENT US FOOD SAFETY SYSTEM 25
Regulation 26
Federal Regulatory Programs 26
State and Local Regulatory Systems 28
HACCP Systems 29
Voluntary Efforts 31
Liability 33
Surveillance 34
Human and Animal Disease 34
Chemical Residues and Environmental Contaminants 36
Technical Guidance and Education 38
Government Activities 38
Private Efforts 39
Consumer Responsibility and Perceptions 39
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